Happy midweek, men and women of the Scarlet and Gray. It's the first Wednesday of October, which has no significance whatsoever. Unless it's your birthday. Happy Birthday, someone!
Anyway, October. The month of baseball playoffs, German beer festivals, a daunting football schedule, and Eat Too, Brutus. Personally, I'm looking forward to the group therapy session. I think I'll relax my "no hugging" policy, too. We could all probably use one. In fact, our motto should be the opposite of the Seinfeld "no hugging, no learning" rule. After everyone exchanges brief, non-groping comfort hugs, those of us at 11W can teach you about our respective areas of expertise. Elika can educate us on the fine art of pulled pork. Ramzy can recite the heartbreaking story of five dead hookers. Johnny can reenact all the Star Wars movies. Luke can send us to the Porta Potties as he details the Vegas courtship of Bret Bielema and his betrothed. DJ can provide lessons on the exploits of Warren G. Harding that my History 5651 professor certainly never addressed.
Plus, per insider information, I hear there will be a lot of cool prizes, not to mention the food and alcohol. At some point, I'm sure something like the following will happen: the familiar guitar beats of a number starts playing nearby, causing everyone's ears to perk up. Then, a gravelly voice chimes in, "she grew up in an Indiana town..." and people nod and quietly hum along. A few harmonica notes later, everyone is gathered in a circle belting out, "oh my my, oh hell yes, honey put on that party dress..."
No matter what else may happen on October 29th, at least there will be that.
OUT OF DEPTH. In case you missed it yesterday, the depth chart for the Nebraska game was released with a couple noteworthy points. Staying true to his statement on Saturday that Braxton Miller is the starting QB, Luke Fickell did not designate the position with an "or". Wide receiver, on the other hand, has an "or" next to both spots: Evan Spencer or T.Y. Williams and Chris Fields or Philly Brown. Inexplicably, my man2 Devin Smith is listed behind them. He's demonstrated the best chemistry with Miller, so I find it curious that he's not one of the four potential starters. The good news is that it looks like Philly will be back from his injury. Unfortunately, Verlon Reed is lost to the season with an ACL tear. I guess since Ohio State has decided to imitate Purdue's mediocrity, a Purdue-like injury was bound to happen.
After serving his five-game suspension, Mike Adams has immediately reclaimed his starting LT position. I'm assuming we're all cool with that3. With his return and with Marcus Hall having to sit out, there's a little more reconfiguring on the OL. Jack Mewhort has switched from LG to RG, and Andrew Norwell will take over for him at LG.
On the defensive side, piggyback enthusiast Howard Island has not been supplanted by Dominic Clarke. Nathan Williams remains out of the lineup with his injury, but Michael Bennett must be relatively healthy since he's on the chart as Big Hank's back-up. Also returning from his suspension is Solomon Thomas, who is not part of the two-deep. According to Fickell, he's dinged up and still recovering from offseason leg surgery.
LESSONS IN LOSING. As much as we want to forget about last Saturday, what did Ohio State and Michigan State take away from that game? Mike Brewster, who will serve his third tour of captain duty this week, believes they'll be ready the next time they have to face that much blitzing. Due to offensive calls easier to guess than Brady Hoke's weight4, the Buckeyes mixed it up a bit during yesterday's practice. Brewster commented, "I'm kind of excited to run some of these plays and see how they work."
Fickell responded to questions about the lack of variety in play-calling:
"There's still some things you have to be able to attack, and you have to be able to make a couple of plays. And I promise you, if you make a couple of plays, they stop bringing the pressure. And we just didn't do it. Is it completely a game plan thing? Is it a not executing thing? It's all together. We all take the blame."
The "but it's mostly on Jim Bollman" part was implied.
As for Michigan State, Joe Rexrode for the Lansing State Journal maintains that even though it's a down year for Ohio State, the win for the Spartans needs to be respected. He also opines that it could help Michigan State in the recruiting process, especially since Dantonio tries to recruit Ohio hard.
Hope he gets this angry Saturday night
BO YOU DON'T KNOW DIDDLEY. For the first time as a head coach, Bo Pelini will face off against his alma mater. Though he doesn't acknowledge it, his former teammate Jim Peel believes, "deep down inside, it'll be a pretty special game for him." How could it not be? While the 1987-90 seasons in which he played weren't the most successful in Ohio State football history, he was a captain and two-year starter.
Whatever emotions, besides rage, he might feel on Saturday night, he's still the opposing coach and cares more about this own team getting better. Despite getting clobbered 48-17 against Wisconsin, Pelini says "there's no reason for drastic changes" in their game plan. Like Fickell, he thinks it's more about technique, figuring out the most productive lineup, and players getting their assignments right.
MAKE IT LAST A LITTLE LONGER, LONGER WITH BIG RED. Speaking of Nebraska, their defense this season was supposed to be stifling and instead has been a disappointment. The Badgers have quite the prolific offense, but giving up 48 points to anyone isn't the stuff of stingy defenses. Right now, they are ranked 64th in the nation in total defense, giving up 377 yards per game. Their scoring defense is worse, sitting at 73 and surrendering 27.2 points per game. The good news for them? The 108th ranked Ohio State offense is coming to town.
The Cornhuskers have relied more on their offense this year to win games. While QB Taylor Martinez is a talented runner, his passing is Denard-like and he can be prone to turning the ball over, as he did against Wisconsin. Their best offensive plan is to establish their run game with Martinez and top RB Rex Burkhead, who is averaging 6.4 yards/carry.
As for their special teams, freshman Ameer Abdullah is the nation's top kickoff returner, and kicker Brett Maher is 9/11 on field goals this season. His only two misses were from 50+ yards, though he has made a 50-yarder.
SNACK-SIZE B1G BITS. The Badgers have the week off, but they're still getting plenty of attention, especially Russell Wilson. Rivals has him at the top of the QB Power Rankings and he's gaining ground in the early race for the Heisman.
If looking at the latest polls happened to make you do this upon seeing an 11/12 ranked Michigan, you are not alone. Brady Hoke agrees they're overrated, too. Their game against Northwestern on Saturday will be the first road test for the Wolverines. Although he did not finish the game last weekend, NU QB Dan Persa should be good to go. RB Mike Trumpy, however, has been lost for the season with Purdue an ACL tear.
Penn State plays host to Iowa this week and despite their QB problems and Iowa's dominance of late, the Nittany Lions are a three-point favorite. Their defense has carried the team, but the PSU secondary is dealing with a few injuries and James Vandenberg will be the best passer they've lined up against so far this season.
RICHARD LINKLATER. Mark Titus writes about expectations for the football team... The BB team's new Lebron shoes... Evan Blankenship covers a song by a guy I've never heard of... James Jackson is playing well for Wayne State... Arrested Development classic movie posters... Lego versions of classic photographs... A sign after Ron Swanson's heart... So true.
- 1 This might not be the actual course number, but like certain Pulitzer Prize-winning sports journalists, who cares about fact checking?
- 2 In a bro sort of way. Not like a creepy older woman.
- 3 Nine sacks.
- 4 The answer, of course: a lot.
